Category: Lida Abdul

Using some of the ubiquitous ruins found in Afghanistan, and ‘found’ local children, Afghani-born artist Lida Abdul’s video installations delve into issues of war, memories and feminism or its lack thereof in her homeland. In White House (2005) she found an old classical style presidential palace that had been bombed into a ruin, on the outskirts of Kabul and painted the whole place white, filming the process which lasted for 3 days.

White House (2005) Lida Abdul

The fact that she was dressed in black shows a kind of mourning, and her bent over, sweeping motion in the wind is somewhat ambiguous; is she white-washing, sanitizing the whole place with the paint, or is this an act of remembrance, like elderly people sweeping the grave of the deceased in other countries?